September 10, 2009 - GEORGE TOWN: One out of every three cigarette packs sold in peninsular Malaysia is either contraband or fake.

In Sabah and Sarawak, two out of three packs sold are illegal (illicit, black market, contraband, smuggled). (Malaysia is separated into 2 regions which are Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo by South China Sea.)

These numbers were based on a quarterly survey and study conducted by the Customs De­­partment and the Confederation of Malaysian Tobacco Manuf­acturers (CMTM). Customs deputy director-general (enforcement) Datuk Mohamed Khalid Yusuf, in revealing the results, added that to date, 36.8% of cigarettes sold in the country were illegal compared to 25.7% for the whole of 2008. A previous report indicated that one in every four cigarettes bought in Malaysia is illegal.

Mohamed Khalid said 29.9% of them [illegal] were sold in the peninsula while the rest were found in Sabah and Sarawak.